Lost a good friend who was 19 years old who was driving back from elk camp last year by himself. He had a 5x5 he just shot in the back of the pick up.

It was around 8am when he was driving back the police figured he fell asleep at the wheel, went off the road, and rolled the truck. The truck rolled multiple times and he was ejected out of it, and was killed.

I was a FF on the local dept and it was our ambulance that was there first. It was our EMT's that loaded Matt up. The boy they picked up that day was the previous Captains son. A kid who was cadet in the dept, who was on calls with us in the past, who grew up with many of us, and who knew better.

So don't tell me a seatbelt is bullshit, its a first amendment right or any other crap. Its a law. Don't think about yourself. Think of the paramedics that have to put you in the back of an ambulance, and the memories that are burned in their memory for the rest of their life. And think about your mother, father, brothers and sisters who have to get a phone call to tell them there son/daughter is dead.

Basically not wearing a seat belt is being selfish. I have been on enough calls that a simple seat belt would have saved their life. I have watched a person roll a Chevy Blazer 5 times in front of me, and walk away from it because of a seat belt. I have had extricate a person for over 4 hours because they decided to drive drunk and drive off the side of a hill wedging themselves 6 feet up in a tree. They would have walked away with a seat belt on, but since they chose not to, they wedged them self under the steering column and broke their back and were paralyzed from the waist down.

So do what you want. But don't be surprised to get a ticket, don't give cops crap for trying to make it a little safer for you.

And if/when you don't wear a seat belt and get in a major accident, don't be surprised when you never see your family again.